If a very unofficial record book and historian are to be believed, the last time Western Christian High School’s football team reached the playoff semifinals was soon after the school was established in 1920. There’s not much mystery connected to this year’s team.

The undefeated Lancers (12-0) will host Jurupa Hills tonight at 7 p.m. in the CIF-SS East Valley Division semifinal contest in downtown Upland. It’s a match that will pit the top-seeded Spartans (10-2), champions of the Mountain Valley League, and the fourth-seeded Western Christian, Ambassador League champions.

While this is the Lancers’ first-ever official appearance in the semifinals, it’s the Spartans’ second consecutive appearance at this level as Jurupa Hills seeks to become the fifth Fontana school to reach the football finals. In 2012, Jurupa Hills was taken out by Ontario Christian, 33-32.

Jurupa Hills has been rated among the division’s best teams throughout the season, while Western Christian didn’t start attracting attention until mid-season, thanks to its spotless record.

Despite their vast differences, the teams have a solid common thread: a solid core of senior leadership. This is the first senior class that’s played four years at Jurupa Hills, which was opened in 2010 and posted a 1-7 record as freshmen and sophomores. At Western Christian, the seniors have also rebounded from a 3-7 mark as sophomores.

There are 27 seniors on Edward Mcmillon’s Jurupa Hills roster, while Kevin Oberelander has 13 seniors on his team.

“It’s going to be a tough matchup,” said Oberlander. “They’re awesome, the best team we will have faced all year. They are big, fast and very athletic; it’ll be quite a challenge.”

Mcmillon has similar thoughts about the Lancers.

“They are undefeated for a reason; they’ll be our toughest opponent,” said Mcmillon, whose Spartans are concluding their final MVL and East Valley season. “They have a very balanced team. It feels good to be playing on Thanksgiving week; there are a lot team at home.”

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Both teams can point to one game on the schedule that fueled the run to the semifinals.

“For us, it was (Long Beach) St. Anthony’s,” said Western Christian John Wood, the starting right tackle at 6-foot-5, 245 pounds, of the fourth game, a 41-16 win. “They were good, with a lot of big kids. But it didn’t prove to be a big problem. We learned we didn’t need to be all that big.

“We have a lot of trust in one another, we all love each other. We’ve found out that if everybody does their job as assigned, good things will happen. As coach says, we just need to focus.”

Jurupa Hills opened the season rated No. 1 in the division, but started with losses to Murrieta Mesa and Moreno Valley Canyon Springs. That was more than a wake-up call for the Spartans.

“We had worked too hard not to succeed, there were plenty of ways for us to improve,” said four-year starter Tyler Walker, a 5-9, 180-pound linebacker/defensive end among the team leaders. “We looked at the goals we set and really started to focus.”

Thomas Collier, a 6-0, 175 defender who missed all the league games due to a collarbone issue, said it was “a change in attitude, effort and intensity.

“We were not focused on one another. It all changed after that game.”

The Spartans have not lost since. In fact, Jurupa Hills had won 14 of its last 17 games.

Western Christian is facing long odds. The Lancers have 375 students on campus, 125 of whom are enrolled in the international program, as a private school. Derrick Luo is among the international students, having enrolled three years ago straight from China and started playing football. He was an all-league pick in 2012.

Jurupa Hills, part of the Fontana district, has more than 1,000 in its enrollment.

But Oberlander is not conceding.

“The key is to play our game. They are a tough opponent,” Oberlander said. “It’s important for us to focus what we want to accomplish, push the other stuff aside.”

At first glance, the Lancers appear to be very rushing oriented. Western Christian has run for more than 4,100 yards (an average of 346 per game), with running back Sarkis Panossian (1,964) and quarterback Brad Hargis (1,233) leading the way. The Lancers are averaging nearly 10 yards per carry.

The Lancers have rushed for 54 touchdowns thus far, 23 by Panossian and 16 by Hargis. Western Christian has averaged 43 points in its undefeated run, scoring fewer than 27 points in just two mid-season games. In fact, those are the only games the Lancers have scored fewer than 35 points, and going over 50 three times.

However, according to Oberlander, don’t overlook the Lancers’ passing game.

“We haven’t had to pass much, but we can. Hargis is completing nearly 70 percent of his passes,” said Oberlander of the quarterback with 14 TD passes. “We are very effective passing the ball.”

So is Jurupa Hills. Damion Wright has thrown for 2,093 yards and 23 TDs, and scored 13 on the ground. The Spartans don’t have the rushing numbers, but have scored 32 TDs on the ground.

“We’ll have to limit our turnovers and cut down our mistakes,” said Mcmillon. “Defensively, we need to stop the rushing game and contain their quarterback. We’ll have to click on all cylinders. We haven’t played our best game yet; with each game we have been improving.”